My Wing Man: My grand-grandfather Spragen

Because I started my journey with such a blank page of information, the first person I really worked on in my family history line was my great grandfather on my father's side.  I regret every day not asking my grandpa Spragen more information about his father before he died.  When I became really interested in family history, the first place I started was with my father's side.  My grandpa Oerke had gone to amazing lengths to research his family and even my mother's mother, Dorothy Kintner, had a good amount of research already in place.  The big question mark had always been the Spragens.  No one knew anything about their past ancestors.  They didn't know in some cases who their grandparents even were or even if their own parents had been married!  This has been a huge hurdle for me and with relatives getting older, the information that is there and accurate is slipping away.

So I started where anyone starts.  With the facts. I know who my father's parents are, Arthur Edward Spragen Sr. and Betty Darline Moore.  Per my grandfather's birth certificate, his father's name was Arthur Spragen who was 45 years old at the time of my grandfather's birth on March 23, 1930.  His mother, Mary Duncan was age 25.  Lets start here.  There was a 20 year age different between my great grandparents. That alone raises questions.  While Mary was just starting out her life, Arthur had already lived a good portion of his!  What was his story?  Why at the age of 45 was he fathering children instead of perhaps enjoying a time of children leaving the house and perhaps starting to have children of their own?  And why was he having children with a 25 year old girl?!

While some people may raise eyebrows and come to more evil conclusions, I don't think the truth is so simple.  A question has plagued me for years is why is he Arthur Spragen and yet HIS son by the same name is not a junior?  In fact, my grandfather is a senior and HIS son, my father, is the junior.

There is clearly more here than meets the eye.  According to his gravestone, my great grandfather is known as Arthur C. Spragen.  Fair enough...we now know why he is not a senior and his son a junior.  My family believed that his middle initial stood for Clayton.  Thus I started my digging.  What could I learn about the elusive Arthur Clayton Spragen born in 1885 or 1886.  The answer...not a damn thing!!!  When the Mormons who dedicate a part of their mission to working on family history can't even find the man, you know you are in trouble.

My great grandparents headstone

With a great sigh, I felt like giving up.  How was I suppose to dig into the history of the Spragens if I couldn't even get past my great grandfather!  I found myself at time angered that the family didn't know more about themselves and the people they came from.  But I reminded myself that time has a way of changing facts.  Maybe Arthur's middle name was in fact not Clayton at all.  It was, after all, just a guess on my relatives behalf.  So I started looking for Arthur Spragen's born in 1886.  That at least seemed like something I could rely on to be right.  Right?  This is, in part, true.  But what I found went much deeper.  I started finding some census records for a man with the last name Spragen who was born in 1886.  But it wasn't until I found the below document that I blew the whole case WIDE open.

World War I Draft Card-1918

I had seen some census record referring to a Pole Spragens living in Kentucky.  Based on word of mouth, my family confirmed that ancestors once lived in Kentucky and made their way up to Cincinnati, Ohio.  I had been looking for Spragens in Kentucky and was having luck, but unfortunately, not the kind of lucky break to piece everything together.  This is where the above came in.  Per the draft card, a man born on April 12 of 1886 living in Kentucky listed his nearest relative as Napoleon Spragen.  There is more to come on Napoleon later, but here was a new piece of information.  His name is Chester Arthur Spragens!  Back up now....CHESTER!  Could it possibly be that my grandfather was in fast not a Arthur C.  But a Chester A.?  I started to get really excited about this!  But how could I really prove it?!

With great excitement I called my dad and ask a simple question.  "What do you physically remember about your grandfather?"  His response was simple, but I only needed one piece of information.  He was missing 3 fingers.  I'm pretty sure I could have died at that moment.  This was HIM!  Per his draft card, Chester was missing 3 fingers and this was confirmed through my dad who remembered him missing 3 fingers!  Even sitting here writing this, I feel the excitement!  The big break I was waiting for had come.  I know knew my great grandfather Spragen was in fact Chester Arthur, he was living in Kentucky at age 32, his nearest relative is a name named Napoleon, and he is working as a master machinist which could very well explain his missing digits.

But like all new information, it leaves you with more questions to track down.

1.  Who is Napoleon Spragen?  Father, brother, uncle?  

2.  Why does Chester's last name end in an "s" and nearest relative Napoleon's does not?

3.  If he is listing his nearest relative as a man, does this mean he is unmarried?

This is my mission.  This is my purpose in the journey.  Find the facts and then ask more questions that lead me to more facts.  For the time being, this was the information I needed to press on.  I now had more details to work with and proof that digging into Kentucky records was the way to go.

Chester is a man of mystery to me.  From knowing he was missing three fingers, to having a different last name than his nearest relative, even knowing he was 20 years the senior to the mother of his children....I am curious beyond belief to know what this man's story is.  And that is why I have give him the title of Wing Man.  In finding out about him, he will lead me to the details to find out about his father, mother, and potential siblings.  

The only photograph of my great grandfather is below.  Whenever I do research, I put the picture by my computer.  Once in a while I give him the stink eye and inquire "What are you hiding Chester?"

Chester Arthur Spragen:  my great grandfather